Artistic Statement
I am a playwright, teaching artist, and producer. I write plays for and about queer people. One of my favorite teachers once proposed rebranding “preaching to the choir” as “strengthening the community.” I strengthen my community by cultivating queer joy, and by leaving audience members more connected to one another. Often, my plays are weird: talking birds, voicemails from ghosts, and poetic dialogue. All of my plays are highly theatrical. When I teach playwriting to young kids, I explain my view of theatricality through the example of a wolf. If there’s a wolf in your movie, you’re going to need a strong special effects team (or an expensive trained animal). But if there’s a wolf in your play, all you need is an actor who can howl. In my work, I leverage theatricality to do what I believe plays do best: embodied, immediate storytelling, best experienced with others.
From 2017-2023, I produced theater with my company Queer Cat Productions. We brought consent-forward, accessible, immersive (and often interactive) performances to audiences in the Bay Area and beyond. With my team, I produced six shows: choose-your-own-adventure narratives, digital interactive works connecting people safely during the height of the pandemic, outdoor ritual performance, and site-specific dance theater. I’m proud to say that they were all weird.
Since 2008, I have taught playwriting to a broad range of students: elementary schoolers at reading time, middle school IEP classes, after-school programs for teens, and college courses. My teaching practice has a lot in common with my producing style, facilitating rather than dictating my students’ creative exploration.
Most recently, I am also one half of Grabmeier and Jost. We are a musical theater duo, with me as librettist and Maggie Grabmeier (of local band Maggie Gently) as composer and lyricist. As a team, we are committed to representing queer joy onstage. Queer artists have always mined our collective trauma for inspiration — our pain is real and important. But what about our joy? Straight people have the opportunity to see themselves reflected in countless adventures, fantasies, romances… Queer people need the same. Grabmeier and Jost creates queer romantic comedies that are chock full of queer joy. And we do so because we firmly believe there is a political usefulness to this kind of joy that should not be overlooked. We aim to delight audiences, queer and non-queer alike, with our work.
From 2017-2023, I produced theater with my company Queer Cat Productions. We brought consent-forward, accessible, immersive (and often interactive) performances to audiences in the Bay Area and beyond. With my team, I produced six shows: choose-your-own-adventure narratives, digital interactive works connecting people safely during the height of the pandemic, outdoor ritual performance, and site-specific dance theater. I’m proud to say that they were all weird.
Since 2008, I have taught playwriting to a broad range of students: elementary schoolers at reading time, middle school IEP classes, after-school programs for teens, and college courses. My teaching practice has a lot in common with my producing style, facilitating rather than dictating my students’ creative exploration.
Most recently, I am also one half of Grabmeier and Jost. We are a musical theater duo, with me as librettist and Maggie Grabmeier (of local band Maggie Gently) as composer and lyricist. As a team, we are committed to representing queer joy onstage. Queer artists have always mined our collective trauma for inspiration — our pain is real and important. But what about our joy? Straight people have the opportunity to see themselves reflected in countless adventures, fantasies, romances… Queer people need the same. Grabmeier and Jost creates queer romantic comedies that are chock full of queer joy. And we do so because we firmly believe there is a political usefulness to this kind of joy that should not be overlooked. We aim to delight audiences, queer and non-queer alike, with our work.
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Nicole Jost
Artistic Statement
I am a playwright, teaching artist, and producer. I write plays for and about queer people. One of my favorite teachers once proposed rebranding “preaching to the choir” as “strengthening the community.” I strengthen my community by cultivating queer joy, and by leaving audience members more connected to one another. Often, my plays are weird: talking birds, voicemails from ghosts, and poetic dialogue. All of my plays are highly theatrical. When I teach playwriting to young kids, I explain my view of theatricality through the example of a wolf. If there’s a wolf in your movie, you’re going to need a strong special effects team (or an expensive trained animal). But if there’s a wolf in your play, all you need is an actor who can howl. In my work, I leverage theatricality to do what I believe plays do best: embodied, immediate storytelling, best experienced with others.
From 2017-2023, I produced theater with my company Queer Cat Productions. We brought consent-forward, accessible, immersive (and often interactive) performances to audiences in the Bay Area and beyond. With my team, I produced six shows: choose-your-own-adventure narratives, digital interactive works connecting people safely during the height of the pandemic, outdoor ritual performance, and site-specific dance theater. I’m proud to say that they were all weird.
Since 2008, I have taught playwriting to a broad range of students: elementary schoolers at reading time, middle school IEP classes, after-school programs for teens, and college courses. My teaching practice has a lot in common with my producing style, facilitating rather than dictating my students’ creative exploration.
Most recently, I am also one half of Grabmeier and Jost. We are a musical theater duo, with me as librettist and Maggie Grabmeier (of local band Maggie Gently) as composer and lyricist. As a team, we are committed to representing queer joy onstage. Queer artists have always mined our collective trauma for inspiration — our pain is real and important. But what about our joy? Straight people have the opportunity to see themselves reflected in countless adventures, fantasies, romances… Queer people need the same. Grabmeier and Jost creates queer romantic comedies that are chock full of queer joy. And we do so because we firmly believe there is a political usefulness to this kind of joy that should not be overlooked. We aim to delight audiences, queer and non-queer alike, with our work.
From 2017-2023, I produced theater with my company Queer Cat Productions. We brought consent-forward, accessible, immersive (and often interactive) performances to audiences in the Bay Area and beyond. With my team, I produced six shows: choose-your-own-adventure narratives, digital interactive works connecting people safely during the height of the pandemic, outdoor ritual performance, and site-specific dance theater. I’m proud to say that they were all weird.
Since 2008, I have taught playwriting to a broad range of students: elementary schoolers at reading time, middle school IEP classes, after-school programs for teens, and college courses. My teaching practice has a lot in common with my producing style, facilitating rather than dictating my students’ creative exploration.
Most recently, I am also one half of Grabmeier and Jost. We are a musical theater duo, with me as librettist and Maggie Grabmeier (of local band Maggie Gently) as composer and lyricist. As a team, we are committed to representing queer joy onstage. Queer artists have always mined our collective trauma for inspiration — our pain is real and important. But what about our joy? Straight people have the opportunity to see themselves reflected in countless adventures, fantasies, romances… Queer people need the same. Grabmeier and Jost creates queer romantic comedies that are chock full of queer joy. And we do so because we firmly believe there is a political usefulness to this kind of joy that should not be overlooked. We aim to delight audiences, queer and non-queer alike, with our work.